


Why Did It Take So Long?

by typicalaveragefangirl



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: A hint of smut, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Angst, I'm Bad At Tagging, fake dating turns real, final season rewrite, fluff and angst and then more fluff and more angst, single bed trope but a twist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:22:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29883138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/typicalaveragefangirl/pseuds/typicalaveragefangirl
Summary: When Luke's girlfriend breaks up with him before his brother's wedding, he decides to take Penelope with instead.Takes place at the end of season 15; not completely canon compliant.
Relationships: Luke Alvez & Penelope Garcia, Luke Alvez/Penelope Garcia
Comments: 8
Kudos: 44





	1. Moving On, You and I

If there was one thing Luke Alvez knew it was that he knew better than this. He knew better than showing up on Penelope Garcia’s doorstep when he was well on his way to being wasted. He did—know better, that is. But when the Uber stopped in front of her home, he got out of the car with a quick “thank you” and found his way to her door, knocking three times. 

He knew better and he didn’t care. 

By the time Penelope had opened the door with a quizzical look on her face, Luke had pulled up the picture on his phone and turned it around so she could see. 

“Luke, what on earth are you doing here?” she asked, ignoring the phone he was trying to shove into her hands. “It’s almost one in the morning!” 

“I had to show you the pretty picture,” he said, swallowing a burp that wanted to escape. He sounded drunk even to his own ears, which was never a good sign. 

Penelope finally took the time to look at the picture he’d pulled up on his phone. Her in a perfectly patterned, mostly purple dress and Luke in a fitted blue suit, they were dancing together at Rossi’s wedding. As she pulled her robe more tightly around her, Luke couldn’t help but notice the light blush that appeared on her cheeks when she saw the photo. 

“That is a very nice picture, Luke, but I still do not understand why you needed to show me it at… 12:56 am,” she said, glancing down at his phone again for the time. 

“I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head as he really realized what he’d done.  _ Even as drunk as he was, Luke Alvez knew better.  _ “I’ll go. See you at work, Penny.” 

He turned on his foot, starting to walk away but Penelope lunged after him, grabbing his arm to pull him back. “Well you’re already here. You don’t have to go now!” 

Penelope linked her arm in Luke’s, guiding him back into her entryway as she said, “as long as you never try to call me Penny again.” 

Luke giggled, kicking his shoes off before following her into the living room, and collapsed on the couch. When Penelope sat down next to him, he lay his head in her lap without a second thought. 

“Lisa broke up with me.” 

“ _ What _ ?” 

“Lisa saw the picture of us dancing at Rossi’s wedding on facebook and she broke up with me.” 

  
“Luke, that doesn’t make any sense,” she said. “Start from the beginning!”

“I know! I mean, Rossi is like… old, and I don’t think he even has a facebook account so I don’t know why his photographer would even post the wedding photos on there. And his wedding was  _ a long time  _ ago! Why are the pictures just now on—”

  
“Not that, darling, start with  _ Lisa _ .” 

“Oh, that. Right. Well, I mean, this isn’t the first time we’ve argued about you,” Luke said, realizing a moment too late that he shouldn’t have gone there. He knew he’d gone too far now, though, so he decided to just keep going. 

“Uh… well, Lisa thinks that I’m secretly in love with you and when she saw that picture on facebook she said I’ve never looked at her like that before. And then she said a bunch of other things I won’t bore you with. So anyway, she broke up with me and told me to get out of the apartment as she is currently packing up her things to move out. So that is… that.” 

“Oh, Luke,” Penelope started, trailing off. She was clearly trying to blink tears away from her eyes, and Luke realized he was too. Penelope recovered before he did, saying, “That can’t be that! I mean, we can figure out a way to show her that you really love her! That can’t be that, Luke!”

Even as drunk as he was, Luke knew that  _ had to be  _ that when it hurt him more that Penelope wanted him to go back to Lisa than it had when Lisa had finally been the one to end their relationship. 

“It’s that,” he said quietly, a single tear rolling down his cheek. Penelope reached a slightly shaking hand to his face, still in her lap, and wiped it away; then her hands found a home in his messy hair, scratching his scalp in a soothing motion. 

* * *

When Luke woke up, Penelope wasn’t playing with his hair any longer. At some point during the night she must’ve covered him with the fluffy pink blanket that was twisted around his body and placed a pillow where her lap had been. Even though they’d only been there together for a few moments, he missed her presence on the couch with him. 

Before he even opened his eyes, Luke could feel his head pounding and that pounding only intensified as he tried to sit up. The sun was shining brightly into Penelope’s living room which was the opposite of what hungover Luke desired, but he saw a glass of water and a bottle of Advil on the table next to him and made a mental note to both apologize to and thank Penelope for last night as he reached for the water. 

“Good morning!” 

Luke turned his head in what he hoped was a movement that looked more natural than it felt. “Hey, you,” he said with a small, timid smile. “Sorry about, uh—”

“Don’t mention it,” Penelope said, waving off his apologetic face as she crossed to him and handed over a mug of coffee. He took a long, slow drink before she continued with, “how are you feeling?” 

He just laughed.

“A little hungover, a lot humiliated… And, uh, pretty thankful to have a friend like you who always seems to know how to make a person feel better,” he said finally. “Thanks in advance for not making me relive last night.” 

“Who said I wouldn’t hold it over you once you’ve got some caffeine in you?” she asked, looking down after a moment to avoid his gaze that was still locked on her. “I, um, would offer you breakfast, but all I’ve got in the fridge is some questionable two week old hummus and vegetarian bacon, and neither of those things really scream ‘Luke Alvez breakfast of choice.’” 

“I would be happy to eat anything you offered, but I am also more than happy to take you out to breakfast for your troubles!” 

Twenty minutes and a lengthy argument about who would drive Esther later, Luke and Penelope found themselves in a corner booth of Penelope’s favorite diner just a few minutes down the road. After ordering, making only slightly-stilted small talk while they waited, just a few more apologies for the night before, and then shoveling the spinach zucchini quiche and cinnamon rolls that they’d both ordered into their mouths, Luke found himself dreading the goodbye that naturally came next. 

He was about to order an uber back to his apartment when Penelope offered to drive him home, so Luke paid the bill and they got on Interstate 95. 

“So, you got any plans next weekend?” Luke asked as he directed her toward his apartment. As much time as they’d spent together, it wasn’t too often that they were together without some aspect of work being involved. He was, for some reason, distinctly aware of the fact that nobody would know if he kissed her right now. He needed a safe plan to distract himself from, well, himself. And he was busy next weekend.

“Not much,” Penelope replied easily. “I might go volunteer at my favorite animal shelter in town! I haven’t been for a few weeks and miss my babies. There’s this beautiful tabby cat named Mango and I want to see if she’s found a home yet. If not, I might have to adopt her.” 

“You haven’t been around to see Roxy much lately either,” Luke said, glancing over to her with a grin. “She misses you too.”

“Oh don’t you make me feel worse than I already do, Luke Alvez!” 

“I’d invite you over to hang out with her, but I’ll be out of town.” 

“What, the serial killers giving you a heads up before they commit murder now?” 

“No, my little brother is getting married,” Luke said with a laugh, “so I’m going home for the weekend. Serial killer willing, of course.” 

“Oh, fun! What’s your brother like? A sweeter, sexier version of you?” 

“He’s great,” Luke admitted, nodding his head as he instructed Penelope to pull over in front of his building. He had a bad idea. An idea that he knew better than to explore. But right now, in this moment, he couldn’t think of any reason not to explore it. “But I’m not sure his wedding’ll be the same after getting used to Rossi’s standards. No Johnny Mathis?  _ No Penelope Garcia? _ I’ll have to dance with one of my erratic aunts.” 

“I truly don’t know how you will make it through without me,” she said. Penelope turned Esther off and looked over at Luke with a grin that unknowingly gave him the push he needed. 

“Well you could always just come with me so we don’t have to find out.” 

Penelope literally laughed out loud. When Luke remained quiet for a few seconds, trying not to take the laughter personally, she said, “Wait, you’re not serious are you?”   
  


“Well, I mean, yeah? I RSVP’d with a plus one so my family will be expecting me to come with someone, but as you know, my girlfriend recently dumped me…” He trailed off, leaving the unspoken fact that his girlfriend had recently dumped him  _ because of _ his relationship with Penelope hanging in the air. 

“Are you just saying that to get my sympathy because you know I have a heart of gold, Newbie?” 

“Maybe.” 

Penelope remained quiet for a few seconds, so Luke continued—hoping the fact that she hadn’t already said no several times over meant she was thinking about it. 

“But look, I already have a second plane ticket. I already bought the most expensive gift on the registry that I can put your name on, too. All I know is that dancing with you at Rossi’s wedding is the most fun I’ve had in months, and with how crazy everything has been at work lately…” 

JJ still wasn’t back from Grace Lynch shooting her and Rossi’s drive to find Lynch had only increased since JJ’s injury. It had been hard for Luke, and he knew it had probably been even harder for Penelope. 

“I don’t know…” he continued, “I could just use a fun weekend and I thought maybe you could, too.” 

“Are the plane tickets first class?”

“You know I’d only offer the best to Ms. Penelope Garcia.” 

“Well I think that our private jet would probably actually be considered the best,” Penelope said. 

“Okay smart ass, if you don’t want to be my date you can just tell me.” 

“No no, I want to come. I’ll come with you. You’re right—I could use some fun!” 

“Yeah?” Luke tried not to get his hopes up. “You’ll come?” 

“Yeah? Yeah…” she said, not sounding sure. They were both quiet before she smiled and said “yeah!” with a little more chutzpah. 


	2. Make Me Feel Like I'm Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You…” Penelope trailed off, looking at him with confusion all over her face. “You want me to pretend to be your girlfriend this weekend?” 
> 
> “Uh, yeah?” Luke said, more in the form of a question than a statement. He saw the confusion he knew was on his face copy and pasted onto hers. He saw something else, too, but couldn’t decide whether it was dread, panic, or excitement. “What did you think I meant when I asked you to be my date to my brother’s wedding because my girlfriend dumped me?” 

Luke Alvez spent most of the next six days waiting for something to go wrong; he’d been waiting for an urgent case that required the full team’s attention, for a giant late July snowstorm to cancel their flight, for Penelope to tell him she had just been kidding about the whole ‘coming with him to his brother’s wedding’ thing. 

So when they left work on time, made it through airport security without a hitch, and boarded their plane only after stopping at Starbucks for coffee  _ and _ coffee cake, he left out a sigh of relief. Maybe this would all work out. 

After settling into the first class seats he’d promised, the plane was in the air and Luke cleared his throat, causing Penelope to meet his eye.

“So, uh, we should probably get our story straight, huh?” 

“Story?” 

“Yeah, I mean, we don’t have to get too specific, but maybe just basics... like when we started dating, what we did on our first date, that kind of thing,” Luke said. 

Penelope choked on the drink of Diet Coke she’d just swallowed. “Excuse me?” 

“I figured we could keep it simple and keep it as close to the truth as possible. We pulled off Rossi’s engagement party together and we went out to celebrate, got to talking, and then after we spent more time together at his wedding we realized we wanted to be together?” 

“You…” Penelope trailed off, looking at him with confusion all over her face. “You want me to pretend to be your  _ girlfriend _ this weekend?” 

“Uh, yeah?” Luke said, more in the form of a question than a statement. He saw the confusion he knew was on his face copy and pasted onto hers. He saw something else, too, but couldn’t decide whether it was dread, panic, or excitement. “What did you think I meant when I asked you to be my date to my brother’s wedding because my girlfriend dumped me?” 

“Just that! To be your date!” Penelope shrieked, and then tried to lower her voice when a few people around them started staring. “One can simply bring a date to a wedding that is not their girlfriend, Luke Alvez.” 

“One can!” Luke responded, “but not when that specific one told his family he had a girlfriend when he RSVP’d to his brother’s wedding with a plus one.” 

Penelope slapped Luke’s shoulder; he knew the emotion on her face he was trying to determine earlier hadn’t been excitement. Dread and panic were both still in the running, though. 

“What, do I have to cosplay as a doctor named Lisa, too?”

“No, I didn’t tell them anything about Lisa,” Luke said. He was quiet. He knew he’d fucked up. He should have explicitly asked. He should have…

“I was just starting to like you, Newbie!” Penelope groaned. “Why would you do this?” 

“My little brother is getting married! My family thinks I’m a commitment-phobe! I panicked!” 

They were both quiet for some time before Luke started talking again, “look, I’m sorry I put you in this position, Garcia. We can obviously just go as friends. I’ll come clean to my family when we get there! No problem.” 

“Are you?” Penelope asked. 

“Am I what?” Luke asked, “Sorry? Of course I—” 

“No, a commitment-phobe.” 

Luke didn’t say anything for a moment, taking time to think about the question before answering. He hadn’t been ready to  _ really commit _ to Lisa, but both he and Lisa knew that had nothing to do with his lack of commitment skills. He was very committed to the things that mattered most to him. His time at the BAU had taught him a lot of things, but high on the list was how nice it can be to depend on other people. 

“No,” he answered finally. Definitively. “I am not.” 

“Then why did you and Lisa break up? Like, really?” Penelope asked. “No woman in her right mind would break up with  _ you _ just because of a silly photograph.” 

“Oh, I don’t know…” Luke said quietly. When Penelope just continued staring at him, he continued, “I, uh, I don’t think she ever really got over what happened with Phil. I’ve always had… trouble letting people in, and it was no different with Lisa.” 

He left out the part about how Lisa continuously pointed out that he seemed to have no trouble letting Penelope in. And how every time she’d pointed that out, Luke couldn’t think of anything other than the fact that he’d spent so many years trying to get Penelope to like him—probably because he so desperately wanted her to feel the same way he did. 

“But you’re perfect! And and and she’s perfect! There’s just so much perfect there,” Penelope said sadly, gesturing to the man next to her. “Are you sure you can’t work through it?” 

“No, there’s no way we can work through it.” 

“Why though? You guys could come to my grief group and I could help you talk through his death and see if it helps.” 

Luke knew there was no way that would work. The grief had exaggerated the problems that were already there, sure. But he had faith that he and Lisa could’ve worked through the grief if that had been the only problem. 

_ Fuck _ . Penelope was sitting there, looking at him with her wide, beautiful eyes. Ready and willing to help him try to win back his girlfriend, Luke could feel all of the words he shouldn’t say trying to escape his throat. 

So he did the only thing he could think of to avoid embarrassing himself further by confessing that he was afraid he had  _ real _ feelings for his coworker who clearly didn’t feel the same way: he made the split second decision to tell a little white lie. 

“That won’t help because, uh, Lisa is in love with one of her coworkers.” 

Well, close enough. 

He didn’t know if the heaven he’d learned all about growing up existed, but he hoped Phil was out there somewhere laughing at this situation—finally understanding why Luke would never give him Penelope’s number. 

“Oh, Luke, I’m so sorry,” Penelope said. She reached her hand over the seat divider and patted his knee. He looked down, not wanting to give her the chance to read his face and listened to the pilot announcing that they were about to start their descent into New York. She pulled her hand back to her own lap, took a deep breath, and said, “okay, fine, I’ll do it.” 

“Do what?” 

“Pretend to be your girlfriend for the weekend.” 

* * *

As Luke and Penelope de-boarded the plane and got in an uber, he felt a little guilty that his lie about Lisa had been what convinced her to pretend to be his girlfriend. 

They were staying at a small bed and breakfast-esque hotel about an hour from the neighborhood Luke had grown up in for the weekend. They took an uber from the airport to the Bronx and then Luke and Penelope got into his Dad’s truck with a spare key that Luke already had on his keychain. He explained that his parents had taken his mom’s car but left the truck for Luke so he didn’t need to rent a car for the weekend.

Both of them remained quiet as they made their way out of the city. When they finally arrived at the hotel, Penelope took a deep breath as Luke parked the car. 

“Okay, so with all of the chaos on the plane, we never really ended up getting said stories straight, so I will just try to follow your lead. Okay?” 

She was clearly trying to appear calm; Luke wasn’t convinced. 

“Garcia, you really don’t have to do this,” Luke said as they got out of the truck. “I’ll just tell them the truth.” 

“I said what I said, Newbie! Don’t make me regret it.” 

Penelope took another shaky breath despite the confidence in her tone and grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers through his. 

“Well, if you’re sure, we should probably start brainstorming cuter pet names for each other,” Luke said, giving her a smirk that he hoped would relieve some of the tension he could still see in her shoulders. 

“Never.” 

Not more than fifteen seconds after they walked through the door, Luke heard a screeching “LUCAS!” and saw his grandmother walking quickly toward them. 

“Lucas?” Penelope asked. 

“Don’t even think about it,” he said. Then quieter under his breath added, “here we go.” 

Luke gave Penelope’s hand a tight squeeze as they crossed the lobby but regrettably had to let it go when he gave his grandma a warm hug.

“Hi, Nana.” 

“Don’t be rude, Lucas,” she said after pulling away from her grandson. “Who is this beauty you’ve brought with you?” 

Luke pulled Penelope closer to them from where she’d stopped a few feet away, draping his arm across her shoulders and leaned over to kiss her temple as if it were the most natural thing in the world. 

“Nana, this is Ms. Penelope Garcia, technical analyst extraordinaire of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit. Pen, this is my grandmother, Clara Alvez. Bash and Eli and I spent a lot of time at her house growing up when Dad was deployed and Mom was working.”

“No matter what he’s told you about that time,” Clara started, “just remember how much of a saint I must’ve been to watch those three boys.” She had a big smile on her face as she pulled Penelope into a hug of her own. 

“He does nothing but sing your praises, Ms. Alvez.” 

An identical smile spread across both Luke and his grandmother’s faces. They even had the same dimples. 

“Clara, please, darling,” she said. “Now let's go get you two checked in so you can settle in before the rehearsal dinner. How was the flight?” 

As she led both of them to the reception desk, Luke grabbed both his and Penelope’s bags and obediently followed his grandma. He gave the manager his name and they all waited, making small talk as the worker punched Luke’s credit card number into the computer. 

“Excuse me, Mr. Alvez?” the worker asked, “I see that when you called to make the reservation we didn’t note if you prefer a single king bed or two queens. We have both available; do you have a preference?” 

“Uh, the king should be just fine, thanks!” 

A few moments later, Luke and Penelope had hotel keys in their hands and Clara told them the plan was to all meet up in the lobby at 7:00 to head over to the venue for the rehearsal before ushering them into the elevator with a loving wave. 

As soon as the door shut, Penelope’s eyes narrowed on Luke with a fury he hadn’t seen directed at him in quite some time. “A _single king_ _sized_ bed?” She asked through gritted teeth. “What is this weekend? Is it just one big, bad romance novel to you? Fake relationships! Single bed! Any other tropes I should know about ahead of time?”

“I’m  _ sorry _ ,” Luke said. “But what was I supposed to say? My grandmother was right there looking at us! How was I supposed to explain to her that I don’t want to sleep in the same bed as my girlfriend?” 

“Isn’t she catholic?! Tell her we won’t sleep in the same bed until we’re married. In fact, maybe we shouldn’t even be sharing a room!”

Luke could see Penelope’s anger dissipate a little bit despite the harsh words, but he knew her well enough to see it wasn’t gone completely. As they got to their room and he opened the door, Luke said, “look, it’s fine. I can just sleep on the floor! I’ve slept in plenty of places more uncomfortable than a hotel floor.” 

Somehow that didn’t seem to have its desired effect of calming her, though. In fact, it seemed to make Penelope spiral even more.    
  


“This was a horrible idea! Why did I agree to this?” she asked, and Luke wasn’t sure if he should answer or just let her get her emotions out while nobody else was around. “I don’t even know which of your brothers is getting married this weekend, Luke! This was a horrible idea!” 

A chuckle escaped Luke’s mouth before he could stop it. Penelope looked horrified.

He crossed the room to where she’d begun pacing. “Hey, Pen, it’s going to be fine! It’s Sebastian who is getting married this weekend,” he said. He tentatively grabbed her hand and gave it a small squeeze. “Elias is already married to his highschool sweetheart. I honestly just assumed you would have prepared for the case and done some cyber stalking. But if you have any other questions, just ask, ok? It’ll be fine.” 

“I didn’t want to find anything you didn’t already know and have to decide whether or not to tell you, so I decided I was better off not knowing anything… but I am highly regretting that decision right about now. I bet Lisa would know whose wedding she was attending.” 

“I promise it will all be okay,” he said in as soothing a voice as he could muster, rubbing a gentle circle on her upper arms. He pulled her into a tight hug. “Promise.”

“Do you know how incredibly annoying it is for me that you can go from the most frustrating person in the entire world to the sweetest in mere moments?” 

Luke was pretty sure he was going to shove his tongue down Penelope’s throat if he didn’t physically remove himself from her presence and remove himself  _ quickly _ . He gave her arms another quick squeeze and stepped back with a small smile, telling her that he was going to go take a shower before meeting up with the rest of his family. A cold one—though, he left that part out. 

As good of a job as he had apparently done convincing Penelope that this weekend was going to be fine, when Luke shut the bathroom door behind him he realized he had to convince himself, too. Albeit for very different reasons.

_ This is going to be fine _ , he thought over and over. 

_ So what if your girlfriend dumped you because she could see you were falling in love with your coworker before you yourself could _ , he thought.  _ So what if you have to convince yourself you’re not in love with her while simultaneously convincing everyone else you are _ ? 

What could possibly go wrong? 


	3. You Know You Make Me Feel Loved

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ***updated rating for this chapter exclusively***
> 
> i rly said happy international women's day, have an orgasm! to penelope garcia 
> 
> if that doesn't float your boat, feel free to to skip to next chapter because this is basically PWP

Penelope had finally calmed herself down when Luke walked out of the bathroom with a towel hanging low on his hips and threw all of her hard fought calm right out their third story window. 

“Sorry,” he said sheepishly, crossing to where his bag was sitting on the edge of the bed. “Forgot to bring this into the bathroom with me.” 

As soon as she picked her jaw up from the floor, Penelope tried to mumble something that she hoped resembled “no problem” or “all good” but in reality probably sounded a lot more like a teenager writing “ajfsalksala” on tumblr when their celebrity crush posted a shirtless picture. When Luke went back to the bathroom to presumably dress himself, she attempted to regain her cool. She was  _ Penelope freakin’ Garcia _ for fuck’s sake. 

Penelope Garcia did not allow herself to be all slack-jawed and heart-eyed around men like Luke Alvez. Hell, she’d spent enough time around a shirtless Derek Morgan to make any mere mortal combust and she’d survived unscathed. Or at least  _ mostly _ unscathed. 

The only problem was that Luke Alvez was not Derek Morgan. 

Sure, she loved Derek and Derek was arguably one of the most attractive examples of human beauty in existence. But she had never  _ liked _ Derek. Not like she liked Luke, anyway. Where a shirtless Derek was full of defined muscles that represented each line of friendship neither of them wanted to cross, a shirtless Luke was… well, shirtless. Full of lines she  _ wanted _ to cross—lines to run her fingers along as she kissed her way down his chest. 

And she couldn’t do that. 

Not with the bureau’s strict rules about dating people within your department. Not with him probably still pining after his ex-girlfriend. 

So Penelope pulled herself together to play it cool when Luke came back into the room, this time dressed in grey chinos and a black button up shirt. His hair, still a little damp, was more messy than she was used to seeing it. 

He crossed to where she was sitting and stood just inches away, staring down from where he towered over her. Luke took a lock of her hair that was in her face and tucked it behind her ear; then Penelope watched as his eyes traveled to her lips and he licked his own. So much for composure. 

“What are you doing?” 

“Thinking about kissing my girlfriend,” Luke answered in a voice about an octave lower than his normal one. “What are you doing?”

Penelope looked around the room, deliberately peaking around Luke several times. 

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t see anybody here that doesn’t know the truth of what this is,” she said, gesturing between them. 

Luke only got closer to her, which, when she thought about it, was pretty impressive considering how close he already had been. 

“My grandmother could always read my face in five seconds flat growing up,” he responded. “She’s got a sixth sense or something. We’ve gotta sell it!” 

“We’re the profilers!” she argued. “Well, I mean obviously I am not a profiler. But you are! And I am… I am profiler adjacent and—” 

“Do you really want the first time I kiss you to be in front of my entire family?” 

“That first time…” she gulped. “You. Kiss me.” 

Eyebrows raised, he was clearly waiting for some sign,  _ any sign, _ that she was comfortable with him kissing her. 

“Right then,” Penelope said finally, this time with more of her patented confidence. “Go ahead.” 

A slow, sexy smile spread across his face before Luke placed his lips on Penelope’s. The first kiss was light and quick, a feathery peck she might not have noticed if she hadn’t been so prepared for it. But then his lips met hers again and it was harder, deeper. Luke’s full lips moved against her’s, and her’s must’ve been moving back because when they pulled apart from each other they were both panting. 

Kissing Luke Alvez was exactly everything Penelope Garcia could have imagined and more. And in that moment she decided she was going to do it just as much as she could get away with for the next forty-eight hours. 

She stood and closed the small gap Luke had made between them, kissing him again. If he was surprised, he didn’t let on—kissing her back with as much hunger as she felt. 

Their lips were moving fervently against one another’s. Luke brought his hands to each of Penelope’s sides; the light pressure the trace of his fingers made through the thin fabric of her dress sent shivers down Penelope’s spine.

“Luke,” Penelope attempted to say, though it came out as more of a growl. Any chance of her original intent to remind him they were due to go downstairs disappeared as his name was muffled by his tongue finding Penelope’s. 

A few moments later, however, he must’ve found the willpower she’d been lacking because Luke pulled away from her. “We should, uh, probably…” he said, swallowing hard. His eyes shone a shade darker than they normally were. “Go.” 

The few centimeters between them made it difficult for Penelope to focus on anything but what was right in front of her. Luke’s eyes. His lips. His erection. The knowledge of what he would feel like if she closed those few centimeters again. 

“To your brother’s rehearsal dinner,” she said finally, nodding slowly. Painfully. “So I can meet your entire family. And pretend to be your girlfriend.” 

“Right,” he agreed, trailing his hands down Penelope’s body one more time and sending another shiver through her before grabbing her hand and intertwining their fingers together. 

Penelope swore she saw Luke bite down on his bottom lip as he turned and started heading slowly toward the door, his hand still locked with her’s as she followed behind him. Luke grabbed for the door handle as if to open it, but at the last second he pulled Penelope forward and into his arms in one quick movement instead. 

Lifting her easily against the back of the door, Luke’s lips were back on Penelope’s and she was kissing him again before her brain even knew what was happening. 

He moved away from the door, taking backward steps toward the bed with more confident precision than Penelope would’ve thought possible. She certainly would’ve tripped on the shoes Luke arbitrarily stepped over or knocked her hip against the dresser he seemed to miss by only millimeters. But not Luke. Luke found his way quickly to the bed, sitting down and guiding Penelope to straddle him without his lips ever having left her’s. 

Penelope settled into his lap and felt his erection growing harder beneath her with each second. As her fingers deftly undid the buttons of Luke’s shirt, his hands found a momentary home on her thighs—tracing small circles in her skin that would’ve driven Penelope wild if she weren’t already there. Her fingers found their way to the defined lines of his stomach she’d only dreamt of just a few minutes ago. 

“God, Garcia,” Luke groaned as his lips moved down her jaw and to her collar bone. “ _ Fuck _ .” 

He stood briefly and flipped her over onto the bed and paused only when his hands found the zipper on the side of her dress.

“Can I?” 

Her dress was in a heap on the floor as soon as she told him it was fine. His pants quickly followed. 

Luke’s lips found Penelope’s, but then they were gone again and she would’ve been mad if he hadn’t seemed to be making it his mission to trace kisses across every inch of her body. Sloppy smooches on her neck. A quick nip of her earlobe. Plenty of time spent bringing her nipples into his mouth and worshiping each of them with tongue and teeth. 

“Please tell me you have a condom,” she asked, words almost caught in her throat; she was fairly convinced the words were having trouble getting past her heart, which had apparently decided to set up shop right there. 

A blush quickly spread up her chest and to her cheeks when Luke stood, slid her panties off, and said, “patience, Penelope”—distinctly dictating every syllable in his slow, gruff voice before burying himself in her. 

His fingers slid over her now naked body as his tongue explored each of her folds, tasting and then just when she thought she couldn’t possibly be enjoying herself more, teasing with his teeth.  _ Boy had she been wrong _ . 

“Luke, please," she said when she was afraid she couldn't last any longer. "No more patience.” 

Hearing his name must’ve been all the persuasion he needed, because Luke was off the bed before she even finished the sentence. He stood and crossed to his pants, grabbing his wallet and pulling out a single condom. At a quick glance Penelope saw underwear flying across the room and he was back on the bed with a speed that sent a preemptive wave of anticipation throughout her. 

As much as she thought she was ready, when Luke thrust inside her in one smooth motion, Penelope couldn’t help but cry out in a strangled combination of pleasure and incredulity. 

He stopped moving, their eyes connecting just long enough for Penelope to dare him to go harder. Faster. And he did. 

Matching each other thrust for thrust, Penelope was having a hard time holding on to any semblance of control over her own body and if the way Luke was biting down on his bottom lip was any indication, he was too. With each thrust  _ somehow _ going deeper, she arched against him. 

When Luke reached between them rubbing his thumb against her clit once and then again and again as he continued plunging into her, Penelope’s breathing got more ragged and any composure left in her body disappeared. She called out his name as she contracted around him in climax. With a few more thrusts, Luke followed and collapsed next to her. He pulled her into the crook of his arm and placed a sweet kiss on her forehead. 

They both lie there—heavy breaths filling the air. 

“Well, I hope we aren’t going to do  _ that _ in front of your family,” Penelope said finally, earning her a hearty laugh from Luke. 

“We’d definitely have to practice a few more times before it’d be performance ready, anyway.” 

A few moments passed quietly, their limbs intertwined as their breathing started to slow. Penelope knew she should be panicking, reminding him of their non-fraternization policy or avoiding any possible vulnerability that might follow hooking up with your coworker who was probably still in love with his ex-girlfriend. But it felt too good there in his arms, so she just enjoyed it while she could. 

“So…” Luke said eventually, “that was—”

“Amazing,” she finished. 

He laughed, apparently agreeing. 

“I wholeheartedly concur,” he confirmed. “But do we need to, uh, talk about it? About more than how amazing it was?” 

“Look, we don’t have to dissect this, do we?” Penelope asked. “We  _ clearly _ have an undeniable connection but that doesn't have to mean anything, right? We’re already pretending to date this weekend; we might as well go all out and reap the benefits of our predicament.” 

“Like, a friends with benefits situation?” 

“Yeah, why not? Just two adults enjoying a fun weekend away!” 

Something passed across Luke’s face but it disappeared before Penelope could decide what it meant. He sat up, resting his weight on one elbow as he leaned over to kiss her again. 

“If that’s really what you want,” he said with a shadow of a smile. 

A knock on the door startled them out of their next kiss. Luke jumped out of bed and ran over to the door, peeking out the peephole. 

“It’s my grandma,” he mouthed back at Penelope, and then ran over to his now slightly-wrinkled chinos and threw them on, opening the door just a few inches. 

  
Penelope had to bite down on her tongue so as to not shriek at the fact he’d opened the door at all while she was still lying on the bed bare-ass naked. 

“Lucas, are you and Penny ready to go? Everyone is waiting downstairs.”

“Hey, Nana,” he said. “I, uh, just got out of the shower. We’ll be down in a few minutes. You can all go on ahead and we’ll meet you there if necessary.”

  
“Well, hurry along!” she said. “We’ll wait. But Theodore is getting impatient.”

“Yes, of course,” he answered politely, starting to shut the door before yanking it back open. “Oh, and Nana, Penelope doesn’t like Penny for a nickname, okay?” 

After safely shutting the door, he walked back into the room and picked up his shirt. He began buttoning it quickly. 

Penelope watched him, thinking about how he’d corrected his grandma when she’d said Penny. The only time she could recall having told him that she didn’t want to be called Penny was when he’d shown up at her door last week wasted. She found herself marveling at how lucky somebody would be to have Luke Alvez love them one day. Not a fake weekend away love, but real love. And when she realized she didn’t like the feeling it left in her stomach, she began getting re-dressed herself. 

Struggling with the zipper on the side of her dress for just a second, she was startled when Luke walked up to her and zipped it in one quick motion. 

“Is this dress okay?” she asked. “I forgot to ask if there was any dress code today and I know my taste is a little more eclectic than some. It’s not like I can judge my wardrobe on Mr. Various Shades of Black over here.” 

  
“It’s perfect.  _ You’re _ perfect.” 


	4. You Know I'd Never Let You Just Walk On By

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He met her eyes carefully—the gleam she saw there told her that her plan had worked. 
> 
> “Are you trying to kill me, woman?” 
> 
> “I’d never make such a rookie mistake as putting evidence on the scene of the crime, Newbie.”

The rehearsal dinner went by in a blur. 

Luke and Penelope were the last two of the group to arrive in the hotel lobby so everybody gathered around them with joyful greetings. 

It was fun to see Luke’s love for his family plastered all over his face as he introduced Penelope to the couple of the weekend, his brother Sebastian and Bash’s fiance Oliver. They were quickly followed by his youngest brother, Elias, Eli’s wife Mara, and their four year old, Theo. 

“Uncle Duke!” Theo screamed with a giggle, “Where’s Roxy?” 

“Duke?” Luke said through gritted teeth to Elias, only to be matched by a shrug from the youngest Alvez brother. But when Luke turned back to his nephew, the sun would’ve been intimidated by the brightness of the smile on his face. “I’m sorry, buddy, Roxy had to stay home because she’s afraid of airplanes. But next time we’ll drive so we can bring her and I’ll show you some new videos on the way to dinner, okay?”

At the mention of “we” and “next time” Penelope felt a pang of sadness in her chest, knowing there wouldn’t actually be one. But she pushed the feeling away when Luke moved on to introduce her to his parents, Rosa and Luis. 

“Sorry we were running behind,” he said after making the introductions. “Had to get the plane smell off of me so I took a quick shower.” 

When Grandma Clara leaned over and whispered “little lad sure looked sweaty when I came by to collect you for somebody who’d supposedly just showered” in Penelope’s ear, she didn’t know whether to snort or sob. 

Luckily everyone was heading to their cars, so she was spared having to respond as Luke grabbed her hand and pulled her close to his side. 

She was introduced to about 35 more Alvezes or Alvez friends throughout the rehearsal and dinner that followed, but Penelope spent most of her night having trouble focusing on anything but Luke. Intellectually, she knew the whole point of the weekend was to be Luke’s date to the wedding, so participating in wedding activities should not have been a surprise nor a disappointment. But all she really wanted to do was go back to their room and tear his clothes off again piece by piece. 

After a particularly cute scene of Luke raising a giggling Theodore above his head while making airplane noises, Penelope decided that if she had to be so turned on, Luke did too. She excused herself to the restroom and returned a few moments later. 

“Can you hang onto these for me?” she asked Luke quietly, walking up behind him and sliding her undies into his pocket. 

Luke put his hand into his pocket behind her and started to pull them out to see what she’d put there until he realized what was in his hand. His hand shoved the panties back into his pocket and his head whipped up. He met her eyes carefully—the gleam she saw there told her that her plan had worked. 

“Are you trying to kill me, woman?” 

“I’d never make such a rookie mistake as putting evidence on the scene of the crime, Newbie.” 

They still had another couple hours left with his family, but Luke’s left hand remained in his pocket until he shut the door to their hotel room safely behind him that night. 

He pulled the panties out of his pocket and cocked his head to the side. 

“This…” Luke just shook his head and then crossed to her, dropping the underwear to the ground as he grabbed her face with both of his hands instead. He kissed her with all the pent up passion she felt. “You’re diabolical, Pen.” 

As much as she didn’t want to admit how tired she was, a yawn escaped Penelope’s mouth. 

“I was gonna kiss you again,” Luke teased, “but if you’re tired I can just find my way to my spot on the floor.” 

Penelope’s eyes narrowed on Luke and she placed her hand on his chest, pushing him toward the bed. When he crawled part way up the bed, she crawled after him and started kissing him again. 

“I’ll take that as a no?”

“Shut up and kiss me, Luke.” 

* * *

A few minutes before the wedding was set to start, Penelope excused herself from where she’d been talking to a friend of Luke’s parents and found a seat a few rows back that would give her the best view of where Luke had stood during the rehearsal the night before. 

The ceremony was short but sweet. Penelope still didn’t know if she would ever want to get married, but the pure joy that was plastered on Sebastian and Oliver’s faces and the pride she saw as she watched Luke watch his brother marry the love of his life brought a few happy tears to her eyes. The wink Luke gave her as he walked back down the aisle with Oliver’s best man brought a reminder of all the things he’d done to her when they’d woken up and that almost brought happy tears to her eyes, too. 

As soon as she reached the end of the aisle after the ceremony was over, Luke was by her side. Bringing his hand to the small of her back, he led her over to where Mara, his parents, grandma, and a few various aunts and uncles were standing and chatting. 

“Penelope, you should have sat with us during the ceremony!” Mara said as they walked up. “I didn’t see you sitting by yourself until it was too late.” 

“Oh, I didn’t want to interrupt on family time,” Penelope responded with an honest smile. 

“Nonsense!” Rosa said. “Luke is clearly smitten with you and that makes you family,  _ isn’t that right, Lucas Aaron _ ?” 

“I sure am smitten!” he said, smiling at her again. Penelope got the feeling that she was missing the point of his mom’s scolding.  _ Surely _ he wasn’t actually smitten. 

“I seem to remember Elias being rather smitten with me during high school and that didn’t seem to matter much,” Mara said, trying to sound angry but clearly holding back a laugh. 

“Penelope, when Luke came home from his third or fourth deployment to Iraq he made it just in time to see Elias’ high school graduation and learn that he planned to propose to Mara the following week and then follow her to Chicago for college,” Luis explained. “For Luke’s entire two weeks at home he tried to convince Eli that he was making a mistake marrying Mara so young and Elias wouldn’t have any of it.” 

“As I am  _ sure _ you know,” Mara cut in, “Luke cab be extremely stubborn. When he couldn’t convince Elias, he changed tactics and wouldn’t allow me anywhere near the house for his entire break, claiming they needed ‘just family time’ before he went back for his next deployment.” 

Despite what could easily have been a somewhat uncomfortable memory, everyone was laughing so Penelope joined in with the chorus of chuckles. 

“I am happy to admit just how wrong I was,” Luke beamed. “Now I’d choose Mar over El any day. Apparently some people find the one early!”

“To be fair, sweetie, you had absolutely horrendous girlfriends during high school,” Rosa said to Luke. “One could hardly blame you for assuming Eli had followed in your footsteps.”

“Who do you think the worst was?” Luis questioned. “I think my vote was for Sara.” 

“I still think that none of the high school girlfriends were as bad as what’s her name who you dated right after you were discharged,” Rosa said. 

“I don’t know, I think Clair takes the cake,” Mara added. “I mean, dumping someone  _ on prom night _ ?” 

“Mara, you were, like, ten years old and living in Minnesota when I was dating Clair. _You_ _ do not get a vote _ .” 

“Well I was here, and I vote for Clair too,” Clara said, winking at Mara. 

“ _And then_ ,” Luke added loudly, clearly trying to move the conversation along, “when I enlisted all of my friends who’d been married only did it to live off base which ended disastrously every single time. I didn’t want that disaster for my little brother!” 

“I’m afraid you wouldn’t have known what true love is until it smacked you in the face, Lucas,” Clara said. “Luckily Penelope doesn’t strike me as someone who was afraid to smack you around a little bit.” 

“As much as I hate to interrupt the discussions of what I assume is Luke’s disastrous love life pre-Penelope, Bash needs us for a few photos, Lu,” Eli said, walking up behind the group. 

“You good?” Luke asked Penelope quietly, and when she nodded and smiled, he followed Elias to where the wedding party was gathering. 

“All of that discussion is to say, don’t be afraid of joining us for the rest of the weekend,” Mara said to Penelope after the boys walked away. “Luke is the only one who would care, and he clearly can’t get enough of you.” 

Penelope tried not to let her face betray the truth. Luke was a good actor. As a profiler, Luke  _ had _ to be good at controlling his emotions—even around his family. But Penelope wasn’t. And just because Luke had asked her to come to the wedding so he didn’t have to admit to having had yet another disastrous relationship, didn’t mean he wanted her to bond with his entire family while they were there. 

Theo ran up to his mom with one of Luke’s cousin’s kids; they were determined to show Mara and Penelope a cool rock they had found, so the adults followed them all over the wedding venue until it was time to head inside to begin the introduction of the couple and the meal. 

When Penelope, Mara, and the kids finally found their way into the reception area, Luke magically appeared at her side. 

“Where have you been?” he asked, putting his arm around her shoulders and pulling her in to kiss her cheek. As much as Penelope had loved this weekend, the fake PDA still caught her off guard every time. Not in a bad way. But the whole 'getting to kiss Luke whenever she felt like it' thing was still taking some getting used to. 

“Theo and Trevor were just showing us all the cool rocks they’ve found,” Penelope answered at the same time Mara said, “Don’t worry, Lukey, I didn’t tell her  _ too many _ more family secrets.” 

Sebastian and Oliver sat at their own head table with their families and friends in circular tables around them, leaving room for Penelope to sit next to Luke despite not being part of the wedding party. The pair made idle chit chat with his family and amongst themselves as they waited for Bash and Oliver to join and dinner to start.

Penelope was more than impressed with her caprese salad and roasted eggplant parmesan, and was even more impressed that Luke must’ve remembered to tell his brother she was a vegetarian when filet mignon was set down in front of him.

“You’ve got heart eyes,” he said to her. 

“Huh?” 

She raised a single eyebrow, giving Luke one of her patented Penelope Garcia looks. She certainly didn’t  _ want _ to have heart eyes.

“You were looking between your salad and me, and I gotta say: I’m hopeful that the love was all for me, but I’m a little worried it’s for your meal.” 

“I was just surprised you remembered to tell them I was a vegetarian,” Penelope said. “Thank you.” 

Luke gave her a quizzical look. 

“I’ve spent the greater part of the last several years hanging on your every word, Pen. Of course I remembered to tell them you were a vegetarian.”

Conversation died down slightly as everybody started enjoying their meal. When he was finished, Luke excused himself from the table to go grab a drink at the bar. 

“Do you want something?” 

“Sure, I’ll have a margarita,” Penelope asked. “And can you ask for—”

“Easy salt on the rim, extra in the glass,” Luke answered before she could finish. “Seriously, several years. Every word.” 

He placed another quick kiss on her cheek.

When Luke returned and placed the drink in front of her with a wink, Penelope didn’t even think about it and responded, “you know, keep this up and you’re going to  _ actually _ make me start to like you.” 

Elias, who was sitting next to Luke, gave them a look. Penelope could feel the deer in headlights response her face gave, but didn’t have the brain function to answer when Mara jokingly asked, “what, do you fake like him now?” 

Elias and Mara both laughed at how ridiculous it sounded, but Penelope panicked. Was she really going to ruin this by a simple slip of the tongue before she even had a sip of her drink?

Luckily, Luke was there to save the day. He laughed, too, and then said, “oh that’s just a little joke we have. When I joined the BAU, Penelope despised me at first because I was hired after one of her friends on the team quit. Eventually I won her over with my delightful personality and dashing good looks, though, and it became a running joke at work.” 

Penelope let out a breath, thankful that everyone seemed to buy it. 

“Do a lot of people at the bureau date other people at work?” Rosa asked. “I feel like that’s probably a job not a lot of people understand. I bet it’s nice to have somebody who gets what it is that you do.” 

This time, Penelope was the one who had the answer ready. Dating people on your team was strictly forbidden, but when she and Kevin had been together she’d read every section of the rulebook and found that dating people from different departments was just discouraged rather than against the rules. 

“Actually it’s kind of frowned upon with HR,” she said. “Luke and I can date because I am technically employed by a different department since I do technical analysis instead of profiling, so we don’t break any of the rules, but he couldn’t date someone else on the BAU since they’re all within the same department.” 

Thankfully the conversation found its natural end when another guest clinked their fork on their glass and caused Oliver and Sebastian to stand up, sharing a sweet kiss. Everybody finished their dessert and then Sebastian and Oliver shared their first dance. 

Once that was over, Luke grabbed Penelope’s hand and asked her to dance. They found their way to the dance floor and danced with Theo to Shut Up And Dance by Walk The Moon and 1999 by Prince, and then Just The Way You Are by Billy Joel started playing and they naturally fell into each other’s arms. 

“Is that true?” Luke asked her quietly. 

“Is what true?” 

  
“The stuff about the bureau’s dating policy?” he asked, still speaking in a soft tone. “Are you technically in a different department than the rest of us?” 

He had a hint of hope in his voice; it crushed Penelope to smother it. 

“Uh, no,” she said simply. “There’s no specific technical analysis team. I just thought they would buy it.” 

Luke let out a long breath. He didn’t say anything, but he pulled her a little closer and held onto her a little tighter. 

Penelope leaned her head on his chest and soaked up every detail she could. Tomorrow they’d go home and on Monday they’d go back to being coworkers, but tonight she could keep dancing with Luke. Tonight she and Luke Alvez would pretend to be in love. 


	5. Don't Know About You But I Knew It Wasn't Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It had been a long week. Sure, it was only Wednesday, but it had been a long week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally have reached some canon! Takes place around 15x03.

Luke held her hand the whole way home. He knew it would be the last time he could, so he held her hand all the way back to the Bronx. And then he held her hand in the uber to the airport and through security. For the entire flight, the entire drive to her apartment. Luke held her hand as he walked her to her door. 

Neither seemed to know what to say. Luke wanted to prolong the time before saying goodbye, but he didn't know how so eventually he said, “So, uh, thanks. For coming with me this weekend. I really appreciate it.” 

“Yeah, no problem. Do I… I mean, um… when are…”

Luke had never heard Penelope stumble through her words so much—and she wasn’t exactly known for being concise. 

“Will you let me know when you tell your family we fake broke up?” 

The thought of breaking up with Penelope, even when it was technically fake, made Luke’s heart sink even deeper than it already had been in his chest. 

“Of course.”

“So,” she said slowly, “I guess I’ll see you at work tomorrow?” 

Before Luke even had a chance to respond she had opened the door and was part way through it. He reached for her hand again, stopping her in her tracks. 

“Is that really it?” he asked, “Just I’ll see you at work tomorrow? Shouldn’t we… I don’t know—”

“Please don’t do this, Luke.” 

“Do what?”

Their hands were still locked together. 

“Drag this out. We both knew what this weekend was. Let’s not make it any more than that,” she said, pulling away from him and walking further into her apartment. Just before she shut the door she repeated, “I’ll see you at work, Newbie.” 

And then he didn’t hold her hand any more. 

* * *

It had been a long week. Sure, it was only Wednesday, but it had been a long week. 

The team hadn’t had any active cases all week, so there was a lot of sitting around. They had been monitoring a potential national bombing case and tracking down any possible leads on Everett Lynch, but neither of those two things had Luke leaving his desk much. There were a lot of hours behind a computer screen and a lot of hours doing paperwork, and Luke didn’t do well with sitting around. 

Especially when his mind was preoccupied. 

Especially when that preoccupied mind couldn’t stop thinking about putting his hands on Penelope now that he knew how good it felt. When he knew he could walk fifty feet out of the bullpen and into her office, doing things he’d get fired for. 

Or even just holding her hand again. He’d settle for that. 

Then, he might get fired for that, too—that was part of why his mind was so preoccupied after all. 

Despite her near permanent, rent-free residence in his head, each interaction they shared left Luke feeling awkward and uneasy. But JJ was back from medical leave, which meant Garcia was in a good mood. So when Emily told the team that the bombing case they’d been monitoring was now their top priority and that wheels were up in ten, Luke hung back to try to smooth things over with Penelope before they left. 

“Hey,” he said quietly after everybody else had left the roundtable room, hoping to meet her eyes but eventually continuing when it was apparent that wasn’t going to happen. “Everything alright?” 

“No,” Penelope said flatly. She still wouldn’t look him in the eye. “A mom and her kid just got blown up. And we have approximately zero idea where to start finding the bastard who did it.” 

“Well, yeah,” Luke responded. “But we’ll find who did it. You know we will! I meant is everything alright with  _ us _ ?” 

“Of course everything is fine with us. Why wouldn’t it be?” 

_ Because nothing feels fine. _

_ Because you’ve barely looked at me all the week. _

_ Because we pretended to be in love and I’m afraid I actually fell in love with you. _

Instead of saying any of that, Luke responded, “this isn’t how I wanted things to be.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“This! If I’d known you’d be so weird about everything when we got back I never would’ve asked you to come with me in the first place.” 

“ _ This _ is how we are at work, Luke,” Garcia said. “You are overly interested in my every thought and feeling and I try to get through the day without wanting to stab you in the neck with one of my unicorn pens!” 

“This isn’t how we are at work. Not anymore. This is how you  _ used _ to be at work.”

“If I find something from this new mystical Garcia you speak of, I’ll let you know,” Penelope replied. “And you let me know any updates on you and Lisa.” 

_ How could she seriously be bringing up Lisa after everything? What did that even mean? _

Before Luke could respond, Lewis cleared her throat at the door and said, “Wheels up, Alvez. You coming?”

Luke looked back and forth between Tara and Penelope a few times, and then when they both remained silent he walked all the way to the jet without another word. 

He was grumpy for the plane ride and he was grumpy when Tara called him out on how grumpy he was as they made their way from the latest crime scene back to the police precinct. 

  
But then Luke got sent back to the hospital to beef up security and he wasn’t grumpy anymore. Seeing that bomb—it made every grievance he’d been feeling seem futile. 

It couldn’t have been more than sixty seconds. From the moment he’d seen the box to evacuating the floor and then seeing the seconds counting down, more than a minute couldn’t have passed. That one minute, though, between seeing the bomb and realizing it wasn’t rigged… that had been enough for Luke to realize how silly every reason he had for having been in a bad mood seemed now. 

“Luke, are you ok?” ***** Emily asked as she and Rossi came into the room. He was still standing in front of the box, trying to steady his breathing. 

“I’m fine,” he answered. “I won’t need any caffeine for a while, though.” *****

“Did it misfire?” *****

“No, it was never rigged to go off,” ***** he said, showing them the box the fake bomb had been in. “It doesn’t make any sense. But there’s no way this was the end game. I can’t leave Rhonda and Sophia alone—not now, not after everything.” 

“You stay here,” Prentiss instructed. “We’ll head back and do the cognitive with Fred Kirkman to see if that leads us anywhere.” 

Luke nodded and she was already on her way out to catch up with the rest of the team. Rossi patted him on the back. 

“Glad you’re okay, kid.” 

Luke just smiled, letting Rossi head toward the door after Prentiss before stopping him. 

“Hey, Dave?”

Rossi stopped and turned back to the younger agent. 

“Can you let everyone know what happened?” 

“Sure thing,” David said. And then, whether or not he knew it was exactly what Luke meant by ‘everyone,’ he pulled out his phone and punched a few buttons before holding it to his ear. “Hey, Garcia? Luke—yeah, he’s fine. Wanted me to let everyone know he’s going to hopefully lay low at the hospital for the rest of the night.” 

Luke mouthed thank you as Rossi left the room, and then took just one more minute to steady himself before finding Sophia and Rhonda’s new room and posting himself outside the door. 

* * *

When the jet finally landed back in Quantico and Penelope was nowhere to be found, Luke reminded himself he had no real reason to be grumpy. She’d texted him that she was glad to hear he was alright and he didn’t want to push her, so he got in his truck and headed for home like any other late night return. 

The idea of going to bed without Roxy by his side after everything honestly gave him a little bit of a stomach ache, but he didn’t want to wake her sitter so late. 

Luke went through his post-case routine when he got home—switching out his go bag with fresh clothes, prepping Roxy’s next round of food for the eventual next case, and pouring himself a slightly too large glass of tequila. 

Not expecting anybody, his hand instinctively went to the gun that was still on his hip holster when there was a knock at his door. When he silently crossed the room and looked through the peephole to see a more-timid-than-usual Penelope, he released the breath he’d been holding. 

A giant smile broke out across his face when he opened the door and Roxy lunged happily at him. Despite being a perfectly trained dog, Luke bent down and let her lick his face a few times; a tradition they’d started whenever he returned from a mission with the fugitive task force, her kisses reminded Luke how lucky he was to have her there waiting every time he returned. And the slobber she left behind reminded Luke how happy he was this only happened when he first got home from a trip. 

“I figured you’d be missing her extra after your crazy night, so I stopped by Allison’s earlier since I knew you never want to wake her up if you get home late,” Penelope said. “Sorry we ran a little behind. Somebody got distracted by a new toy from Auntie Penny.” 

She was supposed to be the one person on the team who wasn’t a profiler, and yet here Penelope was—reading him like the front page of the Sunday paper. 

“Thank you, Garcia,” he said. “You have no idea how much I appreciate that. Do you want to come in for a drink?” 

A bit to his surprise, she agreed without any coercing. Luke poured himself a little more tequila on the rocks and made Penelope a quick knock-off margarita with some sprite and lime juice he had in his fridge. They both settled onto the couch, Roxy happily between them and soaking up every pet she was getting from both directions. 

“Are you really okay?” Penelope asked. 

“I’m having a really hard time coming up with anything that isn’t better than okay right now,” he answered honestly, earning a small smile from a still visibly sad Penelope. 

“Luke, I’m really, really sorry. You were right, I was—”

He reached his hand over and rested it on the knee she had tucked beneath her. 

“Hey, none of that.” 

“No, you have to let me apologize,” she said. “I was horrible to you this week and especially horrible to you this morning. And if that had been…” 

Penelope took a deep breath and then downed the rest of her drink.

“I am sorry, Luke. Really, truly sorry that I let last weekend make things weird. And I’m sorry it took you almost getting blown up for me to realize it.” 

Despite everything, that made him chuckle; despite glaring over at him, Luke could tell that Penelope was trying not to laugh, too.

And despite all the reasons they both knew they shouldn’t, suddenly their lips were locked together. Their kisses were desperate. Hands frantic. Even with Roxy still sitting giddily between them, they were somehow both completely wrapped up in each other and completely in need of more. 

Then, though, Penelope gently pushed Luke away and grabbed his hands, holding them between the two to keep them apart. 

“I can’t do this anymore, Luke.” 

“I disagree,” he said with an apprehensive grin. “I thought you were doing quite well.” 

“I can’t fake being your girlfriend outside of work anymore,” she answered. “It’s too confusing.” 

“So then don’t fake it,” he said. “As scary as it is to admit, Pen, I think if we’re both being honest we know that last weekend wasn’t all faking. Let’s just do it.” 

She took another breath. Both of her hands were still in his, and she let one go for just a moment to pet Roxy before returning it to his. 

“No matter how much  _ both  _ of us would love that, you know we can’t do that, Luke,” she said. “We could both get fired.” 

“So we just won’t tell anybody!” 

Even before her response, Luke knew he was grasping for straws. That would  _ never _ work. Not with the way Penelope couldn’t keep a secret and the way everybody seemed to see his heart on his sleeve whenever it came to his feelings about her. 

“All of our coworkers are  _ profilers _ ,” Penelope said. 

“So if not that, what? I just go back pinning for you?”

“No, all that wishing and hoping will make it too damn hard,” she said, and he knew if this week had been any indication that she was right. 

They were both quiet. There were no good solutions, and neither of them did very well with not having all the right answers. 

“We go back to being friends,” she said exasperatedly. And at Luke’s raised eyebrow, she continued, “ _ Real _ friends. Not like this week. Like real friends. We banter on cases, we give each other crap over team drinks. I interrupt your dates with new cases and you badger me about whatever new recipe you tried to make over the weekend in the elevator. We know that we had one lovely weekend and that our one weekend together can be something we cherish despite knowing nothing can ever happen again. ”

“That sounds horrible.”

“If you have any better ideas I am all ears,” she said. 

He tried to think of any better idea, but every single time it came back to the fact that unless they wanted to put their careers on the line, they couldn’t date. That was the bottom line. They sat, hand in hand, not wanting to speak the next words but knowing they didn’t really have any say in the decision they’d both agreed to in the silence. 

“I better go,” she said eventually. “It’s late.” 

“Are you okay to drive?” 

“It’s a good thing you’re so good at being a profiler, Newbie,” Penelope said. “Because your bartending skills would’ve needed a few more shots of tequila to count me out. I’ll be just fine. Get some sleep, okay?” 

He leaned over and gave her one last kiss on the forehead after he walked her to the door. 

“See you tomorrow?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Dialogue from the show


End file.
